Strategic Public Relations Group - Financial Services & Investor Relations Campaign of the Year

Company: Strategic Public Relations Group
Company Description: PR networks in APAC and the largest PR consultancy in Hong Kong. It is a specialist in public relations, investor relations and financial communications, and a trusted corporate and marketing communications leader. The award-winning agency has a 300 strong workforce, nine offices in the Asia-Pacific, and retainer clients numbering 300.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Financial Services & Investor Relations

Nomination Title: Creating the world's most obsessed-over IPO launch

Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched: Submit A1 application proof to The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited - 5 November 2021
Listing date – 5 February 2021

Kuaishou is a leading content community and social platform on a mission to become the most customer-obsessed company in the world. Our campaign aimed to assist Kuaishou with its listing on the HKEX, with a focus on piquing investor interest by highlighting its unique and fast-growing business model, its investment potential and its growth drivers, as well as emphasizing its inclusive “embrace all lifestyles” culture.

Kuaishou faced a number of challenges during the campaign, both internally and externally. Kuaishou’s IPO comes at a time when the Chinese government is stepping up its scrutiny of the technology sector, having already made moves to clamp down on livestreaming platforms. Unpredictable PRC policies not only dealt a serious blow to the industry, but also cast a shadow over Kuaishou’s imminent listing, with investors worried it would go the same way as Ant Group’s IPO halt. COVID-19 was another hurdle. The lack of physical events and meetings made it more difficult to spread the word among the investment community, media and stakeholders.

There were internal issues, too. Kuaishou is the world’s second-largest short video sharing and livestreaming platform after Douyin (ByteDance). It reported an adjusted loss of 7.2 billion yuan for the first nine months of 2020, compared with an adjusted profit of 1.8 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier. This lack of market-leading position and the loss-making business had led to a lack of confidence among the investment community,creating a less thanideal environmentforIPO launch.

Stage 1: Pre-HKEX hearing – All-round preparation and market education to build momentum

-A series of advertorials to educate the market on the “new economy” earning model and change the negative perception of loss-making financial statements. Advertorials focused on promoting Kuaishou’s future growth potential and positioned Kauishou as the first short-video platform to enter the capital market successfully draw enormous media attention

-Prepared and developed crisis management guidelines regarding negative news and sensitive government policies. Cooperated seamlessly with in-house PR to fine-tune PR messaging, ensure timely news monitoring and provide quick responses to media inquiries

Stage 2: Global offering – Prudent media strategies to ensure successful listing

-Made a strategic decision not to organize any media events during the sensitive flotation period, which on one hand helped to create market anticipation and direct media focus to planned messaging in advertorials, and on the other hand prevented unnecessary and unwanted media attention

-Favorable information was disseminated through PR channels – strategically highlighted Kuaishou’s corporate philosophy and related its core values (Authentic, Diverse, Beautiful and Beneficial) to its business model, successfully shifting media and public focus from hard facts to soft corporate vision

Stage 3: Post-listing – Strengthening positive messages and sustaining investment sentiment

-Ongoing corporate events to further illustrate Kuaishou's development strategies and investment value

Arranged quarterly calls to establish frequent dialogue with investors and media to update them on the Company’s latest developments and performance so as to maintain investment sentiment

Became retail investors’ most obsessed-over IPO

-Set a record for retail interest in a Hong Kong initial public offering, receiving more than 1.4 million applications from individual investors, the equivalent of nearly one in every five Hong Kong residents

-The retail portion beat the record for most oversubscribed bids, equal to nearly 1,240 times the shares on offer, despite five other much-anticipated IPOs launching during the same period

Effectively changed market perception and stimulated investor interest

-Despite the negative comments on Kusishou during the initial stage, stock commentators recommended to buy after the “education” stage, shares surged by nearly 200% to HK$338 per share and closed the day at HK$300, up 160% from the issue price of HK$115, becoming the third most profitable IPO stock on the first day

-Market capitalization of around HK$1.23 trillion, ranking ninth in Hong Kong-listed companies at the end of its market debut

Received close attention from institutional investors and recognition from capital market

-The institutional part of the IPO attracted commitments of HK$2.45 billion from 10 cornerstone investors, including renowned funds like BlackRock, Temasek and Fidelity

-41 firms imitated coverage with 39 offered BUY rating, fully demonstrated our efforts on simulating the interest among investment community

-Fast Entry into the MSCI Standard index and a number of Hang Seng indexes

Successfully attracted enormous media attention

Over 6,000 media reports generated, equivalent to more than HK$400 million in media value

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tX85jW0Hgj5IIC-owuaZ8Z73JR1IVIJh/view?usp=sharing